Comparator with transition threshold tracking capability
A comparator is provided having a voltage generator, having an output terminal for providing a reference voltage. The comparator also has a buffer unit, providing an output signal according to a first input signal and the reference voltage; wherein the voltage generator provides the reference voltage according to a second input signal, and the output signal represents a compare result of the first and second input signals.
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This Application is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 13/612,799, filed on Sep. 12, 2012 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,581,632), which claims priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/596,353, filed on Feb. 8, 2012, the entireties of which are incorporated by reference herein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a comparator, and more particularly to a comparator with transition threshold tracking capability.
2. Description of the Related Art
On-chip oscillators are in high demand as an external crystal replacement by low-cost and single-chip systems. The frequency stability of an oscillator against variations in temperature and supply voltage is a critical specification for an on-chip oscillator. Working with wide range of supply voltages is also preferred, to gain the most operating time when powered by a battery.
In general, a wide supply range oscillator with typical frequency stability can better accommodate temperature changes. Furthermore, relaxation oscillators with voltage averaging feedback (VAF) or an offset cancellation technique have good temperature stability, wherein the relaxation oscillators only work with a limited supply range. Moreover, an oscillator with a frequency tracking loop provides a stable output clock under wide supply voltage and temperature variations, but it requires a bandgap circuit with high precision, which increases the cost.
Therefore, a relaxation oscillator with adaptive supply voltage generation is desired to achieve the best frequency stability and fixed output frequency under a wide supply variation. To accomplish the adaptive supply voltage generation, the present invention proposes a comparator circuit with threshold tracking technique.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONComparators are provided. An embodiment of a comparator is provided. The comparator comprises: a voltage generator, having an output terminal for providing a reference voltage according to a constant current; a buffer unit, providing an output signal according to a first input signal and a bias signal; and a threshold control loop, providing the bias signal to the buffer unit according to a second input signal, so as to regulate a transition threshold of the buffer unit to close to the second input signal. The output signal represents a compare result of the first and second input signals. The buffer unit and the threshold control loop are powered by the reference voltage.
Furthermore, another embodiment of a comparator is provided. The comparator comprises: a buffer unit, providing an output signal according to a first input signal and a bias signal; and a threshold control loop, providing the bias signal to the buffer unit according to a second input signal, so as to regulate a transition threshold of the buffer unit to close to the second input signal. The threshold control loop comprises: a first PMOS transistor coupled to a first node, having a gate for receiving the second input signal; a first NMOS transistor coupled to a ground, having a gate coupled to the first node; and a second NMOS transistor coupled between the first node and the first NMOS transistor, having a gate for receiving the second input signal, wherein the bias signal is a signal of the first node. The output signal represents a compare result of the first and second input signals.
Moreover, another embodiment of a comparator for comparing a first input signal and a second input signal to obtain an output signal is provided. The comparator comprises: a voltage generator, having an output terminal for providing a reference voltage according to a constant current and the second input signal; a buffer unit, providing the output signal according to the first input signal and a bias signal; and a threshold control loop, providing the bias signal to the buffer unit according to the second input signal, so as to regulate a transition threshold of the buffer unit to close to the second input signal. The buffer unit and the threshold control loop are powered by the reference voltage.
A detailed description is given in the following embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The following description is of the best-contemplated mode of carrying out the invention. This description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims.
In
where Rc is a reference generating resistor, Ic is the charging current of the capacitor Cc, Ir is the biasing current of the resistor Rc and r represents the delay induced by the current mode comparator and the comparator 240, wherein τ is much smaller than the oscillation period of the relaxation oscillator 200 and can be ignored. As a result, temperature stability is dominant by the variation of the resistor Rc, because the ratio between the currents Ir and Ic is temperature-independent and the temperature variation of the capacitor Cc is also negligible. However, if the device mismatch of the NMOS transistors N1 and N2 is taken into account, the equation (1) is re-written as the following equation (2):
where Vos represents the input-referred offset voltage of the NMOS transistors N1 and N2. It is obvious that Ic greatly affects the temperature stability of the relaxation oscillator 200. A self-chopped technique is used to solve this problem without the adoption of temperature-independent current references. The NMOS transistors N1 and N2 cancel the frequency drift caused by the offset voltage Vos every half cycle of the chopper clocks Vchp and Vchpb. To further improve the temperature stability, the resistor Rc comprises the p-poly resistor Rp and the n-poly resistor Rn coupled in series, wherein the p-poly resistor Rp and the n-poly resistor Rn have opposite temperature coefficients, thereby reducing the temperature variation of the resistor Rc.
In the relaxation oscillator 200 of
In the voltage generator 242, a reference voltage Vbs is generated by biasing a dummy inverter formed by the PMOS transistor P4 and the NMOS transistors N11 and N12, with the constant current provided by the current source Ibs. It is to be noted that the gate of the dummy inverter is biased with the voltage Vbn rather than an output of the dummy inverter. By proper sizing, a transition threshold of the dummy inverter is set, to close to the voltage Vbn, which indicates that if an inverter with the same size PMOS transistor P4 and NMOS transistors N11 and N12 is biased with the voltage Vbn, the transition threshold would be in the vicinity of the voltage Vbn. To eliminate the systematic and random offset induced by the voltage generator 242, the threshold control loop 244 is utilized to regulate the transition threshold of the buffer unit 246.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.
Claims
1. A comparator, comprising:
- a voltage generator, having an output terminal for providing a reference voltage; and
- a buffer unit, providing an output signal according to a first input signal and the reference voltage;
- wherein the voltage generator provides the reference voltage according to a second input signal, and the output signal represents a comparison result of the first and second input signals,
- wherein the buffer unit comprises:
- a first transistor coupled between the output terminal of the voltage generator and a first node, having a gate for receiving the first input signal;
- a second transistor coupled between the first node and a ground, having a gate for receiving the first input signal;
- a third transistor coupled between the output terminal of the voltage generator and a second node, having a gate coupled to the first node; and
- a fourth transistor coupled between the second node and the ground, having a gate coupled to the first node;
- wherein a voltage of the second node represents the comparison result of the first and second input signals.
2. The comparator as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: a first inverter coupled to the second node of the buffer unit; and a second inverter coupled to the first inverter, outputting the output signal.
3. The comparator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the buffer unit is powered by the reference voltage.
4. The comparator as claimed in claim 1, wherein a transition threshold of the buffer unit is regulated close to the second input signal.
5. A comparator, comprising:
- a voltage generator, having an output terminal for providing a reference voltage; and
- a buffer unit, providing an output signal according to a first input signal and the reference voltage;
- wherein the voltage generator provides the reference voltage according to a second input signal, and the output signal represents a comparison result of the first and second input signals,
- wherein the voltage generator comprises:
- a transistor having a gate for receiving the second input signal; and
- an amplifier, having a first input terminal, a second input terminal and an output terminal, wherein the first input terminal is coupled to the transistor, the second input terminal is coupled to the output terminal, and the output terminal provides the reference voltage.
6. The comparator as claimed in claim 5, wherein the buffer unit is powered by the reference voltage.
7. The comparator as claimed in claim 5, wherein a transition threshold of the buffer unit is regulated close to the second input signal.
8. A comparator, comprising:
- a voltage generator, having an output terminal for providing a reference voltage; and
- a buffer unit, providing an output signal according to a first input signal and the reference voltage;
- wherein the voltage generator provides the reference voltage according to a second input signal, and the output signal represents a comparison result of the first and second input signals,
- wherein a voltage level of the second input signal is independent of the first input signal,
- wherein the buffer unit comprises:
- a first transistor coupled between the output terminal of the voltage generator and a first node, having a gate for receiving the first input signal;
- a second transistor coupled between the first node and a ground, having a gate for receiving the first input signal;
- a third transistor coupled between the output terminal of the voltage generator and a second node, having a gate coupled to the first node; and
- a fourth transistor coupled between the second node and the ground, having a gate coupled to the first node;
- wherein a voltage of the second node represents the comparison result of the first and second input signals.
9. The comparator as claimed in claim 8, further comprising:
- a first inverter coupled to the second node of the buffer unit; and
- a second inverter coupled to the first inverter, outputting the output signal.
10. The comparator as claimed in claim 8, wherein the buffer unit is powered by the reference voltage.
11. The comparator as claimed in claim 8, wherein a transition threshold of the buffer unit is regulated close to the second input signal.
12. A comparator, comprising:
- a voltage generator, having an output terminal for providing a reference voltage; and
- a buffer unit, providing an output signal according to a first input signal and the reference voltage;
- wherein the voltage generator provides the reference voltage according to a second input signal, and the output signal represents a comparison result of the first and second input signals,
- wherein a voltage level of the second input signal is independent of the first input signal,
- wherein the voltage generator comprises:
- a transistor having a gate for receiving the second input signal; and
- an amplifier, having a first input terminal, a second input terminal and an output terminal, wherein the first input terminal is coupled to the transistor, the second input terminal is coupled to the output terminal, and the output terminal provides the reference voltage.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Oct 15, 2013
Date of Patent: Aug 18, 2015
Patent Publication Number: 20140035623
Assignee: MEDIATEK INC. (Hsin-Chu)
Inventor: Keng-Jan Hsiao (Taoyuan)
Primary Examiner: Jung Kim
Application Number: 14/054,167
International Classification: G01R 19/10 (20060101); H03K 5/153 (20060101); H03K 4/502 (20060101); H03K 3/36 (20060101); H03K 3/0231 (20060101); H03K 5/24 (20060101);